1. CRMarchaeo CRMarchaeo v1.2.1
Modelling Context, Stratigraphic Unit, Excavated Matter
Martin Doerr
Center for Cultural Informatics,
Institute of Computer Science
Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas
October 2014

2. Excavation Process Unit
E29 Design or Procedure
E55 Type
E7 Activity
P33 used specific technique
technique
S19 Encounter Event
P32 used general technique
for drawings before excavating
about where to excavate
P9 consist of
E55 Type
S4 Observation
methodology
E53 Place
P32 used general technique
AP3 excavated
3D excavated area
E55 Type
A1 Excavation Process Unit
P125 used object of type
AP21 occupied
AP10 destroyed
tools
segment of Matter that happened
to be at the excavated place
P21 had general purpose
S22 Segment of Matter
E55 Type
AP5 cut
“find Solomon’s Temple”
S10 Material Substantial
A8 Stratigraphic Unit
AP6 intended to approximate
P17 was motivated by
AP4 produced surface
AP1 produced
AP2 discarded into
A3 Stratigraphic Interface
E55 Type
S20 Physical Feature
preserved part or
total of matter
research question
“surface”
Substance: doing
Identity: Actor, location, temporal coherence
Unity: begin/end (maybe documented)
Intentional, Declarative
S11 Amount of Matter
S11 Amount of Matter
“a basket”
“a heap”

3. Excavation Process Unit
A1 Excavation Process Unit
Scope Note:
This class comprises activities of excavating in the sense of archaeology which are documented as a coherent set of actions of progressively recording and removing matter from a pre-specified location under specific rules.
Typically, an excavation process unit would be terminated if significant discontinuities of substance or finds come to light, or if the activity should be interrupted due to external factors, such as end of a working day. In other cases, the termination would be based on predefined physical specifications, such as the boundaries of a maximal volume of matter intended to be excavated in one unit of excavation.
Depending on the methodology, an instance of A1 Excavation Process Unit may intend to remove matter only within the boundaries of a particular stratigraphic unit, or it may follow a pre-declared spatial extent such as a trench. It may only uncover, clean or expose a structure or parts of it.
The process of excavation results in the production of a set of recorded (documentation) data that should be sufficient to provide researchers enough information regarding the consistence and spatial distribution of the excavated Segment of Matter and things and features embedded in it. Some parts or all of the removed physical material (S11 Amount of Matter) may be dispersed, whereas others may be kept in custody in the form of finds or samples, while others (such as parts of walls) may be left at the place of their discovery.
The data produced by an instance of excavation process unit should pertain to the material state of matter at excavation time only and should well be distinguished from subsequent interpretation about the causes for this state of matter.

4. Stratigraphic Genesis
E63 Beginning of Existence
S18 Alteration
E7 Activity
AP13 has stratigraphic relation
S17 Physical Genesis
A5 Stratigraphic Modification
A1 Excavation Process Unit
AP1 produced
AP9 took matter from
A4 Stratigraphic Genesis
S10 Material Substantial
S20 Physical Feature
AP8 disturbed
S22 Segment of Matter
AP7 produced
S11 Amount of Matter
AP10 is part of
E13 Attribute Assignment
AP11 has physical relation
A8 Stratigraphic Unit
AP16 assigned attribute to
A6 Group Declaration Event
AP15 is or contains remains of
P141 assigned
A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit
A3 Stratigraphic Interface
E18 Physical Thing
AP12 confines

5. Stratigraphic Genesis
A4 Stratigraphic Genesis Scope Note: A process resulting in the displacement of a limited amount of matter which has settled into a relatively stable form, often a deposition, consisting of homogeneous parts. Typology of processes.

6. Embedding “positioning” “state, refinement of position”
A1 Excavation Process Unit
E5 Event
P9 consists of
S16 State
“positioning”
S19 Encounter Event
AP17 is found by
“state, refinement of position”
AP15 has found object
A7 Embedding
AP18 is embedding of
AP20 is embedding at
AP19 is embedding in
E18 Physical Thing
E53Place
A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit
“the Physical Object has a position at least
up to the point of discovery”
“reference space that is
relative to the Context Stuff”

7. Embedding S19 Encounter Event Scope Note:
This class comprises activities of S4 Observation (substance) where an E39 Actor encounters an instance of E18 Physical Thing of a kind relevant for the mission of the observation or regarded as potentially relevant for some community (identity). This observation produces knowledge about the existence of the respective thing at a particular place in or on surrounding matter. This knowledge may be new to the group of people the actor belongs to. In that case we would talk about a discovery. The observer may recognize or assign an individual identity of the thing encountered or regard only the type as noteworthy in the associated documentation or report.
In archaeology there is a particular interest if an object is found “in situ”, i.e. if its embedding in the surrounding matter supports the assumption that the object was not moved since the archaeologically relevant deposition event. The surrounding matter with the relative position of the object in it as well as the absolute position and time of the observation may be recorded in order to enable inferences about the history of the E18 Physical Thing.
In Biology, additional parameters may be recorded like the kind of ecosystem, if the biological individual survives the observation, what detection or catching devices have been used or if the encounter event supported the detection of a new biological kind (“taxon”).

8. Embedding
A7 Embedding
Scope Note:
This class comprises the states of instances of E18 Physical Things of being complete or partially or completely embedded at a particular position with relative stability in one or more A2 Stratigraphic Volume Units. Normally, an embedding is expected having been stable from the time of generation on of the first A2 Stratigraphic Volume Unit that surrounds it. However, it may also be due to later intrusion. As an empirical fact, the expert may only be able to decide that a particular embedding is not recent, i.e., has been persisting for longer than the activity that encountered it. This class can be used to document the fact of embedding generally with respect to the surrounding matter or more specifically with respect to a more precise position within this matter. It further allows for specifying temporal bounds for which a particular embedding has been existing as specified according to evidence.

9. Conclusions
CRMsci provides a comprehensive model for observation metadata regardless science and method.
CRMarchaeo allows for a common representation of archaeological records and survey data, widely independent of local methodology.
Still to be done: Specializations into analytical methods and reference data sets.
Links:
CRM sci and CRMarchaeo are available at: